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Book Review: Earth Fathers Are Weird by Lyn Gala

Last updated on March 22, 2020

Blurb:

Captain Maxwell Davis and his entire unit scrambled to engage alien ships over Iowa. The aliens snatched him out of his destroyed jet before they continued on their interplanetary hot pursuit. Then they informed Max that Earth was too far outside regular shipping lanes to return him to his planet.

So Max ends up in an alien spaceport looking for work. To afford a ticket home he can either spend three hundred years working with linguists to improve the computer’s questionable ability to translate English or he can take a job as a nanny for an unpopular alien.  That way he can afford the ticket in four years.  The problem is that the computer may have mistranslated the word “nanny” and there might be a reason an alien is willing to pay such a high fee.

I will admit that I was slightly tentative in starting this. I don’t know that I would have given it a chance if it were written by any other author. The cover blurb raises all kinds of flags about dubious consent/dub-con scenes. However, I love Lyn Gala’s books and I generally really appreciate how she handles the subject of consent. I think that this book is no exception. She tip-toes into the grey area on the fringes of dubious consent but never crosses over, and the circumstances and emotions that result are handled very gracefully.

The universe Gala created is rich and interesting, including the really neat alien race that makes up the majority of the supporting characters. It’s not hard-core science fiction, so you don’t learn everything about everything. However, the main character, Max, is as curious about his new world as we are. Since we’re following Max around, this means that we learn with him as he asks questions and pokes about.

I’m not into spoilers, so I’m going to stay away from the main story arc. Because there’s really no way to tell you about it without spoilers. But I will say that I thought this story was incredibly sweet. I was expecting more angst, because Lyn Gala thrives on angst, but most of the book was a mellow, comfy read with bursts of humor and extreme cuteness.

In short, I loved it. The setting was creative, the characters were multidimensional and interesting, the emotions were realistic, and the characters didn’t change conveniently for the plot. As an added bonus the relationships grew with the plot and responded to it, rather that existing as separate entities which would have been very easy to let happen.

Trigger warnings: tentacle sex, mpreg

Links

Lyn Gala’s website

Purchase from Amazon, or find other buy links here.

Published inBook Recommendations

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